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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28482936">Still Alive</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheSofterGentlerMe/pseuds/TheSofterGentlerMe'>TheSofterGentlerMe</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>The Long Shadow of Our Pasts [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Adora is petty but I love her for it, Anger, Emotional Baggage, Gen, Post-Season/Series 05 Finale</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-01-01</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-01-01</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-10 15:41:49</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,173</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28482936</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheSofterGentlerMe/pseuds/TheSofterGentlerMe</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Adora is doing a survey off in a remote corner of Dryl and has a bit of a surprise one day when she goes up to check out a cottage off by itself.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Adora/Catra (She-Ra)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>The Long Shadow of Our Pasts [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/2088336</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>12</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>53</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Still Alive</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Shall we?</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>"YOU'RE STILL ALIVE!?" Adora screamed. "BUT... WHA... PFFFFTTTTT… HOW!?"</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Yes, I am, and lower your voice. It's unseemly to cause such a scene. You should know better than that since I taught you better," Shadow Weaver said as she continued pruning the flowers in front of the small cottage with a white picket fence that Adora had just arrived at moments before. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Adora had been out in the far reaches of Dryl surveying a sparsely populated area. A group of clones wanted her to layout a village for them and had picked the area nearby to set up their town. As part of her contract, Adora had been out talking with the locals to gauge their reaction to having a whole village full of clones settle near them. The reactions had been pretty positive so far, although a few weren’t real thrilled, and she’d almost been done except for one cottage far back into the hills. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She’d almost let it go. It’d been a long walk up the narrow road to the cottage and she’d thought several times on the way up it would have been best to just turn around and leave. It’d rained the night before, the ground was wet, the slope up the road was steep, the road was rocky and rutted, and a dozen other reasons bounced around in her head. As she’d gotten even closer to the cottage she’d even begun to feel vaguely uneasy and she realized now, standing slack jawed at the gate into the yard, that the road up had obviously had subtle magic laid over it to discourage casual visitors. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“A scene!? We’re the only ones up here!” Adora said, gesturing around. “And you still haven’t answered the question!”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Shadow Weaver set down her pruning shears and sighed as she looked at Adora. Adora found it odd to see her without her mask on and the big floppy straw hat and overalls were equally as strange to her but it was still no doubt that it was her. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“What question? You walked up and shrieked at me, Adora,” Shadow Weaver said. “You’re a grown adult now, you really should be more calm. I’d have thought you’d have been more mature since I heard that you and Catra were married and have adopted a child. I'd like to meet them sometime by the way, now that we're reconnecting."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Adora bristled at the casual mention of Finn from Shadow Weaver’s mouth and for a split second thought, </span>
  <em>
    <span>You’re all alone out here. No one would ever know.</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She shook the thought away and said, “We’re not </span>
  <em>
    <span>reconnecting </span>
  </em>
  <span>and the question was implied in me screaming at you about you still being alive. Since you didn’t catch it the first time, HOW ARE YOU STILL ALIVE!?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Adora,” Shadow Weaver said in sweet, sugary tones, “Calm yourself! Catra really hasn’t been a calming influence on you over the years, obviously. I’m alive because I used a teleport spell and then collapsed it on itself to cause an explosion. I thought it best to let you both live your lives until I judged it to be a proper time to re-join you. Although it’s not ideal now, I have several projects going on after all, I think I shall bend to the universe’s will and invite you in for tea.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I’m sorry, did you just say you hid from us for all these years and then invite me for afternoon tea!?” Adora said. “You haven’t changed a bit! Do you have any idea how screwed up Catra and I were after we thought you’d died in front of us? Catra… you treat her like crap her whole life and then in your supposed dying breath tell her you're proud of her? Do you have any idea how much time we’ve had to spend with a Listener working through everything you did to us!?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You always did have this melodramatic streak in you and I see it’s only gotten worse as you’ve gotten older,” Shadow Weaver said, shaking her head. “Probably from spending time around the Queen of Bright Moon and her husband. She’s very high strung and he so carelessly lets her get away with it without reining her in as he should. And a Listener? Tsk, tsk, Adora. That’s so… tacky. Burdening others with your problems, really, I know I raised you better than that.” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Adora gripped the gate in front of her so hard she was sure she was going to break it but didn’t care. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Raised me? You didn’t raise me, you raised a tool for yourself,” Adora spat out. “And keep my friend’s names out of your mouth or you’ll regret it.” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Shadow Weaver raised her face to the sky and shook her head. She looked down at Adora as she said, “Oh Adora, you really need to calm down. I was trying to do you a favor. It was so obvious you were dead set on being with Catra and she obviously felt the same that I thought I’d let you both have your little wish. I’m honestly surprised your little infatuation lasted this long but I guess some miracles do exist. Although after watching your behavior now, I hardly think my leaving was a favor. I hope you’re raising young Finn to have better manners than you’re showing right now.” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The gate didn’t give much resistance. Adora ripped it right off the post it was attached to and threw it to the side as she strode into the yard. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I would have thought you would understand that if I said keep my friend’s names out of your mouth THAT I OBVIOUSLY MEANT MY CHILD’S NAME AS WELL!” Adora said, fighting back the urge to transform, her eyes flashing solid blue.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Shadow Weaver eyes widened in fright as she backpedaled into her garden. She fell into a bush and struggled a little to get up before she fell to the damp ground. Adora stopped in the middle of the yard as she saw it happen and began to take slow, deep breaths. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Here’s what I’m going to say,” Adora said through clenched teeth, still trying to breathe deeply. “We are </span>
  <em>
    <span>not </span>
  </em>
  <span>reconnecting. I don’t ever want to see you again and I know I can speak for Catra and say she feels the same way. You will</span>
  <em>
    <span> never </span>
  </em>
  <span>meet Finn. They know almost nothing about you and it’s going to stay that way. Just stay out here in your little cottage, live your life, and die, unremembered and unloved.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Adora…,” Shadow Weaver started to say in a sweet, wheedling tone before Adora cut her off. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“NO! That’s it! It’s that simple! We’re done! If I ever see you again, and especially if I see you around Finn, I won’t stop like I did this time!” Adora said. “Don’t say a word! Just nod if you understand me!” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Shadow Weaver slowly nodded her head. Adora nodded back and left but not before destroying half of the picket fence. It was petty but it felt right. </span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I've been sitting on this idea for a while. I thought about making it humorous at one point but then I realized, no, it's got to be serious. This isn't going to be "canon" for my series though, like I consider my other uncategorized fics, and it's definitely a stand alone. I may do a follow-up fic of Adora telling Catra that she found Shadow Weaver. I think it would be short. It could go like this: </p><p>"I found Shadow Weaver," Adora said to Catra before explaining exactly what happened. </p><p>Catra listened calmly and then said, "OK. Thank you for telling me. On another note, I must go take a trip that I've been planning for some time." </p><p>Catra is gone for a week. When she comes back she's whistling and has a brand new floppy straw hat.</p></blockquote></div></div>
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